Pilot's Estate Named In Suit Seeking Unspecified Damages

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against the estate of the pilot of a Cessna Citation that went off the runway on landing in Santa Monica, CA, resulting in the fatal injury of all on board.

One of those fatally injured was 53-year-old Kyla Dupont, and the suit was brought by her three sons, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Charles Dupont, Elliot Dupont and Jackson Dupont filed the complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit alleges that the pilot did not maintain control of the jet and did not take the proper actions to make a safe landing. It also charges that the pilot did not properly maintain the airplane.

Mark Benjamin, 63, is thought to have been the pilot of the airplane. He and Dupont, along with Benjamin's son and the son's girlfriend, were on board the plane. They were returning from a trip to Hailey, ID.

Benjamin was the president of Morley Builders based in Santa Monica.

The preliminary report from the NTSB said that there was no debris on the runway at the time of the accident, and all four of the Citation's tires had been properly inflated on landing. It was initially reported that the plane blew a tire when it landed at Santa Monica (KSMO).

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.lasuperiorcourt.org